Brief Summary Of Wovoka's Spiritual Dance

The spiritual dance that Wovoka stressed upon would be performed with hundreds of people in attendance. The people would gather in a large circle in a space that was cleared of all grass and obstructions on the reservation. Sheets would then be placed around them. A freshly cut sapling would be placed in the center of the circle to le praised as the prayer tree. The sapling would be decorated with a multicolored cloth or occasionally a miniature American lag. Wovoka, dressed in a white man’s attire and moccasins, would stand in the center as well to preach to the performers and lead the dance. Many of the other Native Americans would be dressed in white men’s clothing as well. Others would be dressed in traditional clothing with feathers in their hair because Wovoka stressed that when the prophesized flood would …show more content…
The triangle would be lined by fringes and decorated with an icon in the center. Some shirts would have an attached triangular flap instead of a painted one. The main symbol located within the fringes was usually accompanied with set of motifs that would be equally spaced from each other, but the motifs were not always identical. The sleeves were long enough to cover the entire arms of the patron and were often decorated with fringes as well. The dresses shared a similar design. They also had long, closed sleeves and would attach extra cloth or hide to lengthen the garment. The dresses would also decorate the seams with long fringes or feathers and the surface of the dress would commonly be divided into two or three painted plains. Similar to the Ghost Dance shirts, these colorful dresses were decorated with elaborate designs. The dresses would commonly have a large symbol forming the focal point of the designs on the back of the garment slightly beneath the center of the